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arangodb/Documentation/RefManual/JSModuleModules.md

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JavaScript Modules{#JSModules}
==============================
@NAVIGATE_JSModules
@EMBEDTOC{JSModulesTOC}
Introduction to Javascript Modules{#JSModulesIntro}
===================================================
The ArangoDB uses a <a href="http://wiki.commonjs.org/wiki/Modules">CommonJS</a>
compatible module concept. You can use the function @FN{require} in order to
load a module. @FN{require} returns the exported variables and functions of the
module. You can use the option @CO{startup.modules-path} to specify the location
of the JavaScript files.
@anchor JSModulesRequire
@copydetails JSF_require
Modules Path versus Modules Collection{#JSModulesPath}
======================================================
ArangoDB comes with predefined modules defined in the file-system under the path
specified by @CO{startup.modules-path}. In a standard installation this point to
the system share directory. Even if you are an administrator of ArangoDB you
might not have write permissions to this location. On the other hand, in order
to deploy some extension for ArangoDB, you might need to install additional
JavaScript modules. This would require you to become root and copy the files
into the share directory. In order to easy the deployment of extensions,
ArangoDB uses a second mechanism to look up JavaScript modules.
JavaScript for extension can either be stored in the filesystem as regular file
or in the database collection `_modules`.
Given the directory paths
/usr/share/arangodb/A;/usr/share/arangodb/B
for @CO{startup.modules-path}. If you execute
require("com/example/extension")
then ArangoDB will try to locate the corresponding JavaScript as file as
follows
- There is a cache for the results of previous `require` calls. First of
all ArangoDB checks if `com/example/extension` is already in the modules
cache. If it is, the export object for this module is returned. No further
JavaScript is executed.
- ArangoDB will then check, if there is a file called
/usr/share/arangodb/A/com/example/extension.js
If such a file exists, it is executed in a new module context and the value of
`exports` object is returned. This value is also stored in the module cache.
- Next the file
/usr/share/arangodb/B/com/example/extension.js
is checked.
- If no file can be found, ArangoDB will check if the collection `modules`
contains a document of the form
{
path: "com/example/extension",
content: "...."
}
If such a document exists, then the value of the `content` attribute must
contain the JavaScript code of the module. This string is executed in a new
module context and the value of `exports` object is returned. This value is
also stored in the module cache.
Path Normalization{#JSModulesNormalization}
-------------------------------------------
If you `require` a module, the path is normalized according the CommonJS rules
and an absolute path is used to look up the module. However, the leading `/` is
omitted. Therefore, you should always use absolute paths without a leading `/`
when storing modules in the `_modules` collection.
For example, if you execute
require("./lib/../extra/world");
within a module `com/example` the path used for look-up will be
com/example/extra/world
Modules Cache{#JSModulesCache}
------------------------------
As `require` uses a module cache to store the exports objects of the required
modules, changing the design documents for the modules in the `_modules` collection
might have no effect at all.
You need to clear the cache, when manually changing documents in the `_modules`
collection.
arangosh> require("internal").flushServerModules()
This initiate a flush of the modules in the ArangoDB *server* process.
Please note, that the ArangoDB JavaScript shell uses the same mechanism as the
server to locate JavaScript modules. But the do not share the same module cache.
If you flush the server cache, this will not flush the shell cache - and vice
versa.
In order to flush the modules cache of the JavaScript shell, you should use
arangosh> require("internal").flushModuleCache()